5-on-5 scoring rank

Since this was the source of much wailing and gnashing of teeth earlier this season...

Montreal is now tied at 14th in 5-on-5 goals for. Ahead of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, notably. In fact, of that group of 5 teams that are on pace for 98+ points in the Eastern conference, only Ottawa has more five-on-five goals.

They remain a top-5 team in overall scoring, further ridiculing comments about "popgun offense" and "four fourth lines". Oh, and they're a plus team now.

Alas, they slid to 2nd on the power play...

Any talk of over-reliance on the power play might be overstated... in fact it was Allan Muir's report card article on CNNSI that led me to look at these stats again, as he calls Montreal over-reliant on the power play while the A-graded Flyers, who have fewer 5-on-5 goals and more power play goals, are not. But I shouldn't be surprised -- despite similar results and records, not to mention the Habs pasting the Flyers by 3 goals twice against no losses, the most important difference is that Philadelphia has hype and free-agent-signing buzz, and Montreal doesn't. (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ort/index.html, if anyone cares.)

Since this was the source of much wailing and gnashing of teeth earlier this season...

Montreal is now tied at 14th in 5-on-5 goals for. Ahead of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, notably. In fact, of that group of 5 teams that are on pace for 98+ points in the Eastern conference, only Ottawa has more five-on-five goals.

Thanks to the players who have been more consistent lately in ignoring Carbonneau's system of passive play.